Patient lifts



March 8, 1960 M. JOHANNIS 2,927,329

PATIENT LIFTS Filed March 7, 1958 INVENTOR United States Patent PATIENT LIFTS Martha J ohannis, Hyde Park, N.Y.

Application March 7, 1958, Serial No. 719,849

1 Claim. (Cl. 5-317) The present invention relates to hospital accessories in general, and more particularly to an improved lifting device for invalids.

A great variety of accessories serving the general purpose of assisting a bedridden person in bending or lifting the body in a hospital bed are now in use. The majority of such structures are of the overhead type, i.e. they are attached to the bed or to the ceiling in such a way that the patient must reach out above her or his head before being able to help heror himself into sitting positioh. Some proposals were also made to attach one or more handles to a flexible member fixed to the upper horizontal at the foot end of a bed with a View to assist the patient in initial efforts of moving the body into sitting position.

Such devices of known construction exhibit a number of serious disadvantages which prevented them from gaining broad acceptance in hospitals, sanatoriums, convalescent homes, asylums for aged, as well as veterans and other institutions where the patients or inmates spend the larger part of day in bed and often require constant attention. An overhead lift requires rather complicated :apparatus for so attaching same to the bed as to be mov- .able out of the way when not in use, or is permanently in such close proximity of the patient that it represents .a danger if the intended user momentarily forgets same. If attached to the foot end of a sick bed above the level -of the mattress, the accessory cannot be hidden when not in use and is further likely to wear away the paint at the visible point of its attachment to the bed frame.

A further drawback common to all prior patient lifts is in that they assist the user only in initial efforts of lifting the body into sitting position but do not consider additional assistance after the first phase of movement from horizontal into sitting position is made.

My present invention has for its object to overcome the above enumerated disadvantages of prior patient lifts in that it provides an extremely simple, sanitary and inexpensive article which may be attached to hospital beds of any construction and is capable of assisting a patient not only in the initial efiort to raise or bend the body from horizontal into sitting position but also throughout the entire range of movement.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the above character which may be so attached to a hospital or sick bed as to be hidden from 'view when not in use.

An additional object of the instant invention is to provide a device adapted to be used as a patient lift which is so constructed and may be so connected to the bed that a patient can take advantage of same in the bed as well as in a certain area adjacent to all sides of the bed.

A concomitant object of my invention is to provide a device of the character above set forth which may be conveniently detached from one bed and transferred to another bed, if necessary.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide an improved flexible ladder whose length (may beadjusted 2,927,329 Patented Mar. 8, 196g 2 at will and which is so constructed that it can be store as a very small and compact package. a j

The above and many other objects of my invention are attained by the provision of a structure which comprises two flexible elements made of a strong, preferably washable textile material, a number of transverse handgrip members preferably in the form of rungs attached in spaced relationship to both strands of flexible material, and means carried by or attached to one end of each flexible member for connecting same to a mattress sup port or to the foot end of a hospital bed. Due to the flexibility of straps, a patient may use the ladder not only in the bed but also in the area adjacent to all sides of the latter depending on the chosen length of the ladder. When not in use, the novel device may be rolled or folded together into a small package to be hidden at the foot end of a hospital bed or it may be covered by a bed spread in fully extended position. To be ready for use, it is merely placed along a patients body with at least one rung within easy reach of the users fingers. Since the flexible straps may be connected to the bed frame or to the mattress support in a number of ways and require no special construction of the bed, the novel accessory may be attached to or removed from a hospital bed within a very short period of time and, when not in use, stored in a suitable receptacle or in the night table drawer.

The distance between, and the number of, individual rungs may be varied within a wide range as well as the length and mode of attachment of the flexible members. The material of which the rungs are made may be wood, plastic or even light metal.

When a patient resting in horizontal position on a bed intends to use the flexible ladder, the closest rung is grasped by the fingers of one or both hands, whereupon the more distant rungs are grasped in succession while the body pivots about its hip joints until the user reaches sitting position. There is practically no twisting and the interior organisms as well as any wounds in the abdominal area or the legs of a patient are subjected to minimal stresses.

Other features, advantages and attributes of the novel assembly will become apparent in the course of the following description of two embodiments selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings, and the invention will be finally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is perspective view of a hospital bed with the foot end plate partly broken away to illustrate how the patient lift in the form of a double-strand flexible ladder is attached to the mattress support;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the ladder drawn to a larger scale;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the ladder in partial section as seen from line 33 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of one longitudinal end of a ladder rung;

Fig. 5 is side elevational view of a hospital bed with the novel ladder attached thereto, and of a patient about to make use of the ladder;

Fig. 6 is a view quite similar to that of Fig. 5 showing a rigid extension piece fixed to the mattress support to which the distant end of my novel ladder is fixed; and

Fig. 7 shows the patient and the ladder of Fig. 6 in a difierent position. 7

Referring first to Fig. 1, there is shown a hospital bed B and a ladder L in extended position above the upper surface of a mattress 10. Bed B of customary construction may further comprise a mattress support 11 having a number of resilient elements 12 disposed in a generally horizontal plane and a rectangular frame including a transverse horizontal 13 to which the distant end of ladder L may be attached. As shown, a second mattress a a 3 may be added which, when the bedisnot in use, is covered by a bed spread 14 or the like. Ladder L extends along the upper surface of mattress 10a.

The ladder comprises a pair of parallel elongated flexible straps 15, 16 of textile material which are connected by anumber ofsuitably spaced transverse rungs 17 in the form of rods made of light wood which, however, may be replaced by a suitable plastic or light metal. Rungs17 may be fixed to straps 15, 16 in a number of ways, a preferred manner of such attachment being illustrated inFigs. 2 to 4. As best shown in Fig. 4, each member 17 is formed with an annular recess 18 in its peripheral zone adjacent to each longitudinal end thereof, and with an elongated diametral slot 26 in the reduced zone 19. The length of slot 20 is such as to permit the passagetherethrough of strap or 16 but is somewhat wider to accommodate, in addition to one of said straps, two additional flexible members, such as short straps 21, 22 shown in, Figs. 2 and 3. Members 21, 22 which are preferably made of the same textile material as that of straps 15, 16, firmly secure an end of each rung 17 to the adjacent strap 15 or 16. To that end, members 21, 22

i are preferably of same width as straps 15, 16 and are sewn thereto by one or more lines of stitching 23. This stitching maybe received in the slot 29 of a rung 17 and the retaining members 21, 22 thereupon extend from said' slot adjacent to the major surfaces of member 15 or 16 to be folded about the periphery of reduced portion 19 and be secured to strap 15 or 16 by one or more lines of stitching 24. In this manner, the ends of each rung 17 are firmly secured to each of straps '15-, 16 which latter, due to the provision of retaining members or straps 21, 22, need not be interrupted but may consist of a single piece of textile material of sufiicient strength so as to withstand any and all stresses to which the ladder L maybe subjected. I V I While the drawings show a ladder with four uniformly spaced rungs 17 and one distant rung at the foot end of bed B, it will be understood that the number of rungs and the distance therebetween may be selected at will so as to best suit a patient of relatively short, medium or large build. Moreover, the distance between straps 15,

16 may be so selected as to provide room for only one or both hands of the user.

"The rung 17 at the free end of ladder L receives one terminal of straps 15, 16 in its slots 29 while the other terminals of said straps extend beyond the last rung and, as shown :in Figs. 1 and 5, may be led about the transverse frame member 13 of mattress support 11 to be safely but removably received between a pair of rings "25', 26 which are fixed to an intermediate portion of each strap by flexible members 27. Rings 25, 26 are received in-a 'loop 28 defined by bending the material of each member 27'over itself, the latter being thereupon secured to strap 15 or 16 by a number of stitching lines 29. As shown in Fig. 3, the lower end 16a of strap 16 isled between the rings 25, 26 and, by pulling strap 16 in the direction of arrow A, the rings 'firmly engage the end 16a to prevent it from sliding therebetween while the strap 16 is under tension. Rings 25, 26 may be replaced by a conventional buckle or any other suitable fastening means.

.Fig. 5 shows the'ladder L 'in position for use by a patient P. It will be noted that the length of ladder L in this figure is so selected as to have the first-rung within easy reach of the patient who is in normal horizontal position on the mattress 10 of bed B. The lower ends 15a, 16a of straps 15, 16 straddle the mattress and are received in rings '25, 26 as above described. By successively grasping more distant rungs '17, the patient is able to lift heror himself into sitting position, as illusirated .in Fig. 7 .the body pivoting about the hip joints '4 himself into, sitting position, the patient is able to step off the bed or to reach'more distant objects without the aid of a nurse'and without subjecting the body to excessive strains.

In order to prevent the lower ends 15a, 16a of straps 15, 16 from coming into contact and eventually damaging the mattress, suitable openings (not shown) may be provided in the plate 30 of bed B (see Fig. 1) and the straps may be led through such openings and above the horizontal frame member 31 to prevent direct contact with the mattress. Since the ladder L is made of flexible material and occupies very little space, it may be concealed under the bed spread 14 or simply pushed aside when the patient does not require same.

Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate a slightmodification whose purpose is to prevent direct contact between the foot end of ladder L and the mattress without requiring openings in the foot end plate 30. A pair of vvertical extension pieces 32 is rigidly fixed to the transverseframe 13 of mattress supportll, each member 32 defining an eye 33 at its upper end to which the ends 15a, 16a of the ladder straps are fixed. The eyes 33 are slightly above the upper surface of mattress 10 to prevent direct rubbing contact of straps 15, 16 with the latter when the'straps are under tension. The lower ends of members 32 may be provided with external threads to mesh with threads ii -tapped bores (not shown) in the frame member 13.

The essential requirements satisfied by the novel assembly are lightness, effective anchorage, flexibility, adjustability, and proximity of the ladder to a patients body, ie the arms, so as to enable the user to successively grasp the more distant rungs or handgrip members practically without twisting the abdominal region of the body. The chest portion-is tilted forwardly and the absence of vertically directed tensional strains which often occur when an overhead lift is used spares all sensitive parts of the corpus which might have been subjected 'to the knife if the novel assembly is used by a patient in post-operative condition. One end of the ladder is secured to the bed below the upper level of the mattress on which the patient rests. I

Without desiring in any way to limit the ladder of my invention to any specific dimensions, it has been found that a practical form of the accessory shown in Figs. 2 and 3 may comprise straps '15, 16 each of 1 inch width with the distance therebetween about 3 /2 inches. The uniformly spaced rungs may be about 6 inches apart from each other and the distance between the outermost rungs is approximately 3 feet. The overall length'of straps 15, His approximately 6% feet.

As above mentioned, the field of application of my invention is practically unlimited. Thus, the novel accessory may be usedwith' great advantage by polio patients, crippled persons, sufferers from cerebral palsy, tuberculosis patients, persons with one or more fractured limbs,those suffering from cancer, stroke, rheumatism or arthritis, malaria patients and many others. In all cases, the patient lift of my invention saves considerable I work and time to nurses, other hospital attendants and with practically no torsional strains especially if the ladder L is grasped by both hands and the rungsl7 are closely adjacent to .each other. lla ins l f ed .1 5?? 9.

family members. 1

What I claim and desire to protect by LettersPatent is:

'In combination with a hospital bedhaving a foot end and a mattresssnpport: a patient lifting device'consisting of a ladder which comprises two elongated straps of flexible material; a plurality of .spaced parallel rungs, said rungs being of equal lengths and extending transversely between said straps; means including short lengths of flexible material and lines of stitching for non-rotatably securing each rung to said straps whereby the rungs maintain the straps in substantially parallel relationship with respect to each other; and means for removablyand longitudinally adjustably connecting the straps-to said mattress support at the foot end of said bed, whereby a patient resting in reclining position on the bed is enabled to successively grasp said rungs and to exert a :pull .on

5. said straps to rise into sitting position when the ladder is 816,896 extended in the longitudinal direction of the bed along the 2,343,853 patients body with at least one rung within easy reach of the patients hands.

5 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,726 351,729

816,697 Williams Apr. 3, 1906 6 Bihl Apr. 3, 1906 Bjorklund July 22, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain 1909 Great Britain 1909 France May 12, 1905 

